FORMALIZING YOUR PLAN

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Now that you have looked "internally" and understand where your passions lie and what type of career situation will best fulfill you, it's time to lay out your game plan, companies of interest, and planning your course of action.   I highly recommend having Plan A and Plan B.   This part of the process requires you to do a significant amount of research.   Remember, you can never know too much about a perspective employer where you may end up spending the rest of your career!

COMPANY CONSIDERATIONS

Develop two lists of companies of interest.   List A will be the companies you put most of your focus on, but List B are companies that also would be interesting to you.   These are some of the things you should focus on:

• Financial Standing
• Recent News:   Acquisitions/Divestures/Restructures, etc.
• Global?   Public or private?
• Is there a formal Career Development Program?   If not and you're in a senior role, could you help in this area?  
• What does the bench strength look like?   Another question to ask yourself as you consider taking a leadership role.  
• Will you have the ability to make changes in this area?   If so, how long will it take?
• Are there strong systems and processes in place or is this an area where you'll need to invest in building?
• Is there heavy turnover in this firm?   If so, why?
• What kind of recognition and rewards program is in place?   Is the compensation program linked to both company and individual performance?   How has it paid out over the past few years?  
• What is the corporate culture like?   Is it a family owned business that is somewhat "closed" to outsiders?    Are most of the senior leaders people that have been in place for years and years and will they be open to new ideas?
• Can you, realistically, progress or broaden in this environment?
• Is this a "growth industry" or one that will need your help to turn it around?

KNOW WHAT LEADING CORPORATIONS SEEK IN HIRING TOP TALENT

Interestingly, most leading firms look for many of the same attributes/skills as they assess top talent (at all levels).   They'll call it different things, but they know what is critical for success in their environment and they, typically, look at these factors as they evaluate potential employees and measure existing employees as they identify future senior leaders.  

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